Calls for vocational training courses benefitting disabled people in Arakan State

14 Jan 2023

DMG Newsroom
14 January 2023, Sittwe

Disability rights activists say the majority of disabled people in Arakan State are supported by their family members, and that there is a need to conduct vocational training courses for them.

There are more than 500,000 disabled people in Arakan State, and 70 percent of them are supported by their family members, according to disability rights activists.

The chairman of the Arakan State Disabilities Association, U Hla Myint, pointed out that there is a need to develop vocational skills for people with disabilities, to allow them to gain self-confidence and a measure of independence.

“There are vocational training schools in Yangon and other big cities,” he added. “It is not easy for disabled people [from Arakan State] to attend the vocational training school in Yangon. Therefore, it is necessary to have a vocational training school in Arakan State.”

Most people with disabilities still have the intellectual capacity to learn, but lack opportunities to do so.

“Even though we are disabled, there are many people who want to work like others,” said Ma Hnin Hnin, a resident of Sittwe’s Kontan Ward, who is unable to use his left leg. “In order for disabled people to do this, they need vocational training. For example, women need to be taught skills such as beauty treatments, food sales, and sewing. I want to have a career in which I can teach industrial skills to disabled men.”

Ma Htwe May, secretary of the Arakan State Disabilities Association, said that even though people with disabilities have the right to study in schools, they still face discrimination.

“Even in government schools, if you are disabled, you cannot enrol. People with disabilities are not accepted as having the ability to learn, so the capabilities of the disabled have decreased and human resources have been lost,” she explained.

Under the Rights of Persons with Disabilities Law, people with disabilities are entitled to the same rights as everyone else politically and economically, as well as in education, public affairs and various other aspects of life. Despite these guarantees, many people with disabilities remain deprived of their rights under the law.

Civil society organisations (CSOs) are calling for greater protections and livelihood support for people with disabilities in Arakan State and Myanmar as a whole. Disability rights advocates say these populations have yet to fully benefit from the Rights of Persons with Disabilities Law, which was passed years ago and is intended to promote the wellbeing of the disabled.

“There are very few opportunities to open vocational schools for the disabled in Arakan State. At the same time, there is a shortage of employment opportunities for people with disabilities, so it is necessary to expand the scope of what people with disabilities can do,” said Ma Khin Myint Zaw, director of Women Generation.

There are nearly 6 million people with disabilities in Myanmar, according to 2019 figures from the Ministry of Labour, Immigration and Population. There were 505,503 people with disabilities — of whom 207,012 were vision-impaired and 110,264 were hard of hearing or deaf — in Arakan State at the time of the ministry’s 2019 inter-censal survey.